Determination of the Priority of Cultivation for some Types of Garden Utilization for Construction of Orchard in the Khodaafarin Area

Land suitability evaluation is the most important step in land use planning and rapid assessment of the land suitability with high precision and accuracy is necessary. Therefore, the use of computer models for management and assessment of soil resources is inevitable. The aim of this study was to use MicroLEIS system in the form of a Terraza model to identify the bioclimatic deficiency, Cervatana capability and land suitability prediction and Almagra for land suitability evaluation of olive, peach and citrus utilization types in an area of 16555 hectares in the northeast of East Azerbaijan province (Khodaafarin County). The morphological and physiochemical characteristics of 11 control profiles were studied. The studied soils were classified in two order of Aridisols and Entisols and suborder of Calcids, Cambids, Gypsids and Orthents. Based on Terraza, the olive and peach utilization types were in h2 class of deficiency of humidity and citrus was in class of h3. Thus, during the growth period, their production will be reduced between 20 to 40% and 40 to 60% respectively. The results of Cervatana showed that 82.82% of the study area was talent to agriculture and the 17.18% are recommended for pasture or forest plantation. The results of the evaluation of suitability to the Almagra also showed that none of the studied utilization types are in the S1 class. The most limiting of soil factors is the frequency and spread of soil texture, useful depth, lime, profile development and sodium saturation. Finally, the peach utilization type is the most suitable product considering the climatic and the characteristics of landscape and soil, and the priority of cultivation in the area is peach, olive and citrus.